Gdansk

2005 marked the 25th anniversary of the Polish workers movement, Solidarnosc. It was given its rightful grand celebration with a large-scale Jarre concert on August 26, as wished by Nobel Peace Prize, and founder of Solidarnosc, Lech Walesa.

The setting was the Gdansk shipyards, where the Solidarnosc movement was born. Over 170,000 paying audience attended the concert, and in addition, the concert could be watched on giant screens around the city and live on National TV.

Within the concert repertoire, Jarre performed an uplifting and moving arrangement of Mury, an old Polish workers hymn. Quite appropriately in the old docks environment, Jarre chose Industrial Revolution as the opening track.

Synchronised to the music, the concert featured a lavish display of fireworks. The old ships cranes were lit in many colours and were used to move the giant screens around.